Yen Tu spring festival opens in Quang Ninh province
The Yen Tu Spring Festival kicked off on January 31 or the 10th day of the Lunar New Year with a ceremony to pray for peaceful nation and happy people at Hoa Yen Pagoda in Uong Bi city, the northern province of Quang Ninh.
The event was held solemnly to review the great value of Yen Tu mountain, the origin of Truc Lam Zen sect and the contribution of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong.
It included a procession from the foot of the mountain to Hue Quang Tower and Hoa Yen Pagoda and an incense offering ceremony to pray for the peace of the nation. The ceremony was broadcast live on the Fanpage Yen Tu Mountain so that monks, nuns, Buddhist followers and tourists can join in.
A wide range of activities will get underway during the festival, including a lantern night, dragon and unicorn dances, as well as folk games.
The festival resumes after a three-year hiatus caused by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ten days ahead of the festival, the Yen Tu spiritual relic complex had received more than 150,000 arrivals, equal to 80% of the figure from 2018 and 90% of the figure from 2019.
The festival is scheduled to last until the end of the third lunar month, with around one million monks, nuns, Buddhists, and pilgrims expected to attend the religious event, according to the Quang Ninh Buddhist Sangha.
Yen Tu Mountain is located about 50 kilometres from Ha Long city. The area has awe-inspiring scenery, surrounded by ancient pagodas and hermitages.
Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third King of the Tran Dynasty, ascended to the throne when he was just 21. He is famed for defeating Mongol invaders twice during his 15-year reign. The King abdicated when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life on Yen Tu Mountain practicing and popularising Buddhism.
He founded the first Vietnamese School of Buddhism called “Thien Tong” or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen on the 1,068m-high Yen Tu Mountain. The 20,000ha site is considered the capital of Vietnamese Buddhism. Yen Tu became a major Buddhist centre and King Tran Nhan Tong became its first leader under the religious name Dieu Ngu Giac Hoang Tran Nhan Tong.
He ordered the construction of hundreds of religious buildings on Yen Tu mountains for teaching and following a religious life. Besides numerous pagodas, it also preserves many old religious and cultural documents such as precious prayer-books and monks’ writings. Yen Tu was officially listed as a special national relic site in September 2012.
